Everyone knows the obvious explanation for the death of the American mall: Amazon. Online shopping transformed retail, department stores collapsed, and consumers changed their habits. But that explanation leaves an enormous question unanswered. Why did the mall become culturally different before so many of these buildings became financially obsolete? The answer is more complicated than a website replacing a shopping center.
“The Jews of the Orient” sounds like the title of a strange historical novel. It isn't. The phrase was actually used by the King of Siam (Thailand) to describe Chinese communities in Southeast Asia—a commercially successful minority scattered across countries such as Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore.
But why did anyone make such a comparison in the first place?
And what does it tell us about the remarkable history of China's diaspora?
The Chinese experience in Southeast Asia provides one of the most fascinating examples of a story about one of the world's most extensive diasporas—and how it accumulated extraordinary economic influence.
Out now, and as always, thanks so much for sticking with me. It is very much appreciated and I hope your week goes well.
Be well.
Twenty-five years is long enough for a country to decide which parts of a morning it still wants to look at. The video does not treat that choice as accidental.
September 11 is usually discussed as a day. This video treats it as a 25-year process.
Twenty-five years after September 11, 2001, the distance of history has finally become large enough to see the event differently. The immediate horror is beyond dispute, but history isn't only about the moment itself. It is also about everything that followed. Two wars, enormous expenditures, a transformed foreign policy, shifting global alliances and a profound change in American political culture all emerged from the post-9/11 world. This video asks a deliberately uncomfortable question: what did America actually become in the quarter-century after September 11?
Out now, and as always, thanks so much for sticking with me. It is very much appreciated and I hope your coming weekend goes well.
Be well.
One side spent years laughing at people whose jobs got automated. The other side spent years saying art requires rare talent. Both of them just met the same machine. The sounds they are making are identical.
A new word took over the replies this year. It started as a joke about superhero movies. Then it swallowed fast food, then social media, then the entire AI art scene. The people using it cannot agree on what it even means, which is exactly why it works.
You can tell a lot about someone by which version of “slop” they use and which version they suddenly find unacceptable. The pattern is not subtle.
Out now, and as always, thanks so much for sticking with me. It is very much appreciated and I hope your coming weekend goes well.
Be well.
